@LandS2016 I feel the same way about the needle! And I am not epileptic but have a history of seizures and I’m scared of the physical trauma triggering one. I’m hoping I don’t have to be induced. I feel like as long as I’m not induced I can do without it. My goal is to be as healthy as possible so I don’t get GD or preeclampsia.
I trust that my body is designed to give birth, but am concerned about my physical fitness level, and how that may affect things. Also, I feel most comfortable mentally when I have over prepared for new situations. 1. Any STMs do a natural birth while not being in the best shape? I have a weak core! When attempting to strengthen it prior to getting the BFP, I hurt my back and had to lay off of core exercises. I understand that at this point, I shouldn't be trying to improve my physical fitness, just maintaining it. Will my weak core be my downfall? 2. STMs, what did you do to prepare? FTMs, what are you doing to prepare? What kind of classes? Which method? My Dr. recommends the hospital's 8 hour class that covers everything from the last month of labor to breast feeding, and I don't feel like it will have enough info about natural births to make me feel comfortable. Anything else you did/are doing?
@fromcatstokids I cannot recommend Birthfit enough. They have a lot of videos on their youtube channel. Diaphragmatic breathing really helped me in labor preparation. Find some mantras and repeat those and just focus on your breathing. Breathing and mindset (and an awesome doula!) really helped me achieve a med free labor/delivery with my first!
@fromcatstokids I have had 2 fully nonmedicated births and have never been in the best of shape. Women of all shapes, sizes, and levels of fitness have had successful nonmedicated births. I think pain tolerance and/or pain relief /refocus techniques are more important than fitness.
I consider myself to have a very weak core. When it came time to push I don't even remember actually pushing TBH. My body just took over and did its thing.
Focusing on breathing, taking one contraction at a time, knowing the pain is only temporary were key to me.
Wife. Boy mom x6. Expecting #7. Wannabe homesteader. , 💙💙💙💙💙💙
Oh and I heard from many other moms that when you reach that peak of pain where you think you can't go any more that's usually a sign of transition and you are one step closer to having a baby in your arms!
This was absolutely true for me!
Wife. Boy mom x6. Expecting #7. Wannabe homesteader. , 💙💙💙💙💙💙
@fromcatstokids What @nopegoat is saying is probably the best you could hear. Generally, if you can pass a bowel movement, you probably have enough muscle tone to push a baby. But if you are concerned, both yoga and pilates are totally appropriate to start during pregnancy and are specifically for strengthening your core through slow, deliberate movements and poses. I'm far from in great shape but I've continued doing pilates, which is particularly good for people who have back problems, like me.
I asked my home nurse this question (in my state you can opt into having a nurse-family partnership for your first child who visits you for up to 2 years postpartum).
She gave ave me a few diagrams of yoga poses and also squats. I’ve been doing some squats daily.
Besides that, I’m already telling my family to back off about the epidural. My mom did 4 med-free births so she gets it but also says epidurals just weren’t really offered to teen moms back when she had me almost 30 years ago. My fear is mostly needles but also i don’t want to be stuck in bed while laboring.
I agree, the pushing doesn't take much. Your body helps you out a lot and it's more about timing your pushes with your body's contractions, which are doing most of the work. That being said, I did a lot of stretching, squats, and walking generally. I had a subchorionic hematoma (bruise on my placenta) that I had to be careful about, so no serious exercise, but I felt being a little more flexible helped (I wasn't doing crazy stretches, just making sure I spent 5-10 minutes every night stretching my legs and groin and core). I wound up laboring quite a bit in the squatting position, so I think the squats helped my stamina there, but they also have this thing called a squat bar to stabilize yourself, so you aren't squatting solo the whole time.
I planned on med-free, but I had to be induced at nearly 42 weeks and wound up getting an epidural at 7cm. FWIW, my hospital's class covered natural birthing and all of the medication options, explaining the pros and cons of each option. It really did help inform me about which options I would consider and which I wouldn't.
I hate that I don’t go here anymore. No that im having twins I can’t deliver at the birthing center. Since I’m trying for a VBAC they are still going to want me to take the epidural Incase we need to switch to a c section. This is my last pregnancy so I’ll never get the birth I wanted. It’s sad but ultimately I want a safe delivery and healthy babies.
@NicholeL16 are you sure they want you to get an epidural? For my VBAC they preferred I didn't get any pain meds so they could monitor my pain levels better. I had a singleton though.
ETA: I think it's worth another conversation and/or second opinion. Some OBs are very pro VBAC and might be bigger supporters of avoiding the epi rather than a "just in case" epi, because in some cases the epi can stall a VBAC. I really hope you can get the birth you want and deserve.
@NicholeL16 I'm sorry that everything has changed so unexpectedly for you. For what it's worth, I had a CS without an epidural because they couldn't get the catheter in, but they were able to quickly numb me with just a spinal block. Maybe you could ask if that is an option? It made postpartum pain management a little more conventional but that was the only difference.
Thanks ladies, we are meeting with a new MFM doctor soon so I will add that to my list of questions! I just don’t want to risk being out under for a c section. But if there are other options that is great!
@NicholeL16 Just a few more comments - hopefully helpful! I'm a nurse anesthetist, so my job description includes placing/managing epidurals and taking care of moms during c-sections. As obviously has been discussed, twins VBAC can be more complex than singleton VBAC, hence your new restrictions.
As others have mentioned and I'm sure y'all know, most c/s are performed with already-in-place epidural or a spinal. These are the safest options for mom & baby, plus allows mom to be awake for birth. The problem is, and likely why they discussed pre-emptively placing an epidural for you, is that doing either of these does take a few minutes. If there is danger for mom or baby, there frequently isn't enough time to do these in an emergency situation, where those minutes are crucial. In this situation, the only alternative is general anesthesia, with mom all the way to sleep with a breathing tube. This is less than ideal for a number of reasons. So likely, they just don't want that outcome for you!
But one suggestion, if you're interested... You could ask if the anesthesia department is comfortable placing the epidural, so it's there, but not dosing it. (ie: The catheter would be in place, but nothing would be running through it... so after the initial small "test dose" that confirms placement, you wouldn't be receiving any medication.) I don't know if this would be more in line with your preferences...? Not all providers are comfortable doing this, as if there is nothing running through the catheter, there is a greater risk that it could clot off. And obviously this would defeat the point of the whole endeavor!
Of course, you have to work within your hospital's policies and the advice of your personal physicians. I'm in no way trying to change any minds or push epidurals on people who don't want them, but just thought this compromise might help you get a little closer to what you want!
@mamanbebe I would but it’s my sister’s place and she’d be pissed 😂😂😂. Plus she’s squeamish. But I will be trying to make it as close to 10cm as I can before I go to the hospital so mostly laboring at home.
My medfree birth wasn’t really my choice, my twins decided they were ready and I only labored for what was maybe an hour. I woke up to hard cramps and it took every bit of an hour to get my husband in gear to get me to the hospital. Baby A was coming out as we were checking in and baby b came 7 minutes later. It was a super fast delivery. The worst part was delivering a 15# placenta. So now I figure if I can deliver something that big unmedicated I can deliver a bigger baby again unmedicated.
With my oldest I had an epidural and my labor was so rough because I couldn’t feel a thing. In comparison my recovery after my twins was a breeze aside from back pain from carrying twins. I bounced back so much quicker unmedicated than medicated. As soon as I delivered my placenta all the pains were gone.
Has anyone used nitrous during their labor? I’m pretty sure it’s a newer thing to offer moms, and not all places have it. It was available during my second labor, and I didn’t plan on using it because I was going to get an epidural. DS2 came quick though, so I ended up med free, and would like to go med free again this time. Just wondering if the nitrous would be useful, or if I’m just better off getting through contractions on my own.
@nolemomma14 I'm curious about it too! It's offered at my hospital now (wasn't for my previous deliveries). I've actually had nitrous for a few dental procedures and I'll say it's done almost nothing to help with anxiety so I'm not expecting all that much. But I'm hoping someone says it's helpful.
Nitrous has always affected me at the dentist. Like seriously made me wackadoo lol. As far as for delivery, my hospital offers it and I plan to accept. My doula said she attended a birth where her client came in at 8cm and got nitrous. The main thing withnit’s efficacy is you have to breathe it between pushes and if you’re breathing when you should be pushing it can make you have to push longer, according to her.
@nolemomma14 they’ve been using it forever, but for some reason it never really caught on here and they pretty much stopped using it in the US in the early 80s. Most chalk it up to culture. In Britain and its commonwealths, it’s the most common form of analgesic in labor and delivery. Used in up to 60% of labors in the UK. It doesn’t have the same lasting effects like other narcotics that are used as analgesics. And if you decide you don’t like it, you can just stop and boom, no more, it can be out of your system in minutes. They say that you still feel everything but it takes the edge off or just makes you not really care that you can feel it. Im looking forward to having it as an option at my hospital. Like I literally squealed when I learned they offered nitrous! I first learned about it watching Call the Midwife and One Born Every Minute (UK version). And many think that the popularity of these shows in the US has lead to it finally being offered more here in the US as more and more women are starting to ask for it.
@nolemomma14 I am not sure if it was nitrous or something else (but I think it was nitrous) that I tried with DS1 before getting an epidural. If indeed that's what it was, it did not help for me at all. Just made me tired. I'd be willing to try it again though. I don't remember anything bad about it, just that it didn't help me!
Thanks for all of the input everyone! I plan to try it out, because like mentioned above, worst case it isn’t for me and I just stop using it. While I would like to labor at home for as long as possible, my dr wants me at the hospital sooner rather than later. With my second I went from 4 to 10cm in under 90 minutes. Going through that in the hospital was difficult enough, and I have no desire to go through transition while riding in a car.
@nolemomma14 they use it here, especially for moms trying for a natural as possible birth (aka no epidural). If my first had gone as hoped I definitely saw myself using it
@hakele I just learned my hospital offers nitrous and I squealed too! I'm open to an epidural if I need it but I think I can do without if I have the nitrous!
@geoduck21 I hope it works out, I'm rooting for you! If you aren't vegetarian, you might look into desiccated beef liver capsules. I started taking them a couple weeks back for blood deficiency and it's been helping a lot. They typically are a good natural source of iron, b12, folate, choline and some other vital nutrients. I'm also really liking Thorne prenatals for the extra iron. Neither have given me any issues with constipation or digestion otherwise.
@geoduck21@mamanbebe I'm also rooting for you both and I want to hear all about it.
There was a mom on my last board who covered her walls in inspirational quotes and positive self talk. She shared all kinds of cool pics of the space she set up for birth.
I don't go here, but is anyone into The Birth Hour podcast? You can pick your 'flavor' of birth, and if your goal is unmedicated then you could build yourself up with stories of women who have done it!
@nerdtoyourmother I’ll check it out for sure. Pretty much everyone in my family is like ‘get the epidural!’ And that’s the last thing I want. I feel like I just need to be supported and pumped up. Between that and my doulas, I really believe I’ll get to do this thing my way.
@cbeanz yesssss... I finally told my mom to just stop. I know it comes from a place of love but she keeps trying to tell me all the things that might not go my way and I already know that. She’s kindly backed off about it since and has agreed to be my person to ask ‘how much of a factor is fear over pain?’ Which is a really good question. When I’m acknowledging fear, I tend to be more brave so i do think it’ll help me keep on the narrow.
Well, the natural birth article from TB this morning is making me second guess my choices to be in a hospital again this time. I had originally scheduled a birth at The Farm and cancelled when I felt like the travel would be too much of a pain for my husband. Am I going to regret not having the Farm birth I dreamed about?
@cbeanz omg we considered going to the farm if we couldn't find another midwifery here that worked. I personally think it would be an amazing experience but it's such a tough decision to make. Whatever decision you do make will be the right one though
That's a long trip for you @mamanbebe! Aren't you in PNW? For us it'd be a 5 hour drive. My maternity leave is flexible enough I could start 2-3wk B4 my due date and basically live down there. Plan was to have my hubs bring the kids down when early signs pointed to labor (dilation). He'd have to use all his vacation for the year. It seemed like too much to ask. But I still want it. Ughhhhh. Idk if I made the right choice. It's probably too late - the midwife I talked to said they tend to fill up esp over the summer.
@Cbeanz if there’s anyway at all you guys could make it work, I say go for it! If you can’t though, from everything you have shared here, you’re very knowledgeable about the birthing process, and what you want in a labor. Even though a hospital might not be your first choice, I have no doubt you’ll be able to advocate any needs and wants for yourself and have the birth you want. I’m sure whatever you decide will be great for you and DH!
Re: July 2019 Med Free Labor & Delivery Thread
1. Any STMs do a natural birth while not being in the best shape? I have a weak core! When attempting to strengthen it prior to getting the BFP, I hurt my back and had to lay off of core exercises. I understand that at this point, I shouldn't be trying to improve my physical fitness, just maintaining it. Will my weak core be my downfall?
2. STMs, what did you do to prepare? FTMs, what are you doing to prepare? What kind of classes? Which method? My Dr. recommends the hospital's 8 hour class that covers everything from the last month of labor to breast feeding, and I don't feel like it will have enough info about natural births to make me feel comfortable. Anything else you did/are doing?
I consider myself to have a very weak core. When it came time to push I don't even remember actually pushing TBH. My body just took over and did its thing.
Focusing on breathing, taking one contraction at a time, knowing the pain is only temporary were key to me.
, 💙💙💙💙💙💙
This was absolutely true for me!
, 💙💙💙💙💙💙
She gave ave me a few diagrams of yoga poses and also squats. I’ve been doing some squats daily.
Besides that, I’m already telling my family to back off about the epidural. My mom did 4 med-free births so she gets it but also says epidurals just weren’t really offered to teen moms back when she had me almost 30 years ago. My fear is mostly needles but also i don’t want to be stuck in bed while laboring.
I planned on med-free, but I had to be induced at nearly 42 weeks and wound up getting an epidural at 7cm. FWIW, my hospital's class covered natural birthing and all of the medication options, explaining the pros and cons of each option. It really did help inform me about which options I would consider and which I wouldn't.
ETA: I think it's worth another conversation and/or second opinion. Some OBs are very pro VBAC and might be bigger supporters of avoiding the epi rather than a "just in case" epi, because in some cases the epi can stall a VBAC. I really hope you can get the birth you want and deserve.
list of questions! I just don’t want to risk being out under for a c section. But if there are other options that is great!
As others have mentioned and I'm sure y'all know, most c/s are performed with already-in-place epidural or a spinal. These are the safest options for mom & baby, plus allows mom to be awake for birth. The problem is, and likely why they discussed pre-emptively placing an epidural for you, is that doing either of these does take a few minutes. If there is danger for mom or baby, there frequently isn't enough time to do these in an emergency situation, where those minutes are crucial. In this situation, the only alternative is general anesthesia, with mom all the way to sleep with a breathing tube. This is less than ideal for a number of reasons. So likely, they just don't want that outcome for you!
But one suggestion, if you're interested... You could ask if the anesthesia department is comfortable placing the epidural, so it's there, but not dosing it. (ie: The catheter would be in place, but nothing would be running through it... so after the initial small "test dose" that confirms placement, you wouldn't be receiving any medication.) I don't know if this would be more in line with your preferences...? Not all providers are comfortable doing this, as if there is nothing running through the catheter, there is a greater risk that it could clot off. And obviously this would defeat the point of the whole endeavor!
Of course, you have to work within your hospital's policies and the advice of your personal physicians. I'm in no way trying to change any minds or push epidurals on people who don't want them, but just thought this compromise might help you get a little closer to what you want!
Is anyone attempting a home birth?
With my oldest I had an epidural and my labor was so rough because I couldn’t feel a thing. In comparison my recovery after my twins was a breeze aside from back pain from carrying twins. I bounced back so much quicker unmedicated than medicated. As soon as I delivered my placenta all the pains were gone.
In Britain and its commonwealths, it’s the most common form of analgesic in labor and delivery. Used in up to 60% of labors in the UK.
It doesn’t have the same lasting effects like other narcotics that are used as analgesics. And if you decide you don’t like it, you can just stop and boom, no more, it can be out of your system in minutes. They say that you still feel everything but it takes the edge off or just makes you not really care that you can feel it.
Im looking forward to having it as an option at my hospital. Like I literally squealed when I learned they offered nitrous!
I first learned about it watching Call the Midwife and One Born Every Minute (UK version). And many think that the popularity of these shows in the US has lead to it finally being offered more here in the US as more and more women are starting to ask for it.
There was a mom on my last board who covered her walls in inspirational quotes and positive self talk. She shared all kinds of cool pics of the space she set up for birth.
@nerdtoyourmother thanks for the reco - checking out that podcast!